Woman's New Brokerage Account Mistakenly Receives $1.2 Million, Fast-Forward to Her Arrest

What would you do if a company mistakenly placed $1.2 million into your account?

Let me ask that another way:

What would you do if you were Kelyn Spadoni of New Orleans?

As reported by NOLA.com, a February 23rd clerical error caused financial services biggie Charles Schwab to dump more than 1.2 Big Ones into Kelyn’s brokerage account.

The correct amount: $82.56

Translation: a smidge of a mistake.

According to court documents, she’d just opened the account in January.

#HighYield

When the disastrous deposit was detected, the bank attempted a take-back.

That effort got swatted: 33-year-old Kelyn had moved the money to another account.

Such didn’t bode well with local law enforcement.

As stated by Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office spokesman Capt. Jason Rivade, “It’s not her money.”

Furthermore:

“She has no legal claim to that money. Even if it was put in there by mistake. It was an accounting error.”

Oh, and by the way: Kelyn worked for the department — as a Sheriff’s Office 911 dispatcher.

For a few weeks after the gargantuan gaffe, Schwab tried to contact the unintended recipient.

She never answered her phone.

Texts and emails failed to render a response.

“By her conduct,” the subsequent lawsuit states, “Spadoni has made it clear she does not intend to return the mistakenly transferred funds to Schwab.”

Attorneys for the company contacted her employer, which opened an investigation.

As determined by detectives, Kelyn commissioned the cash in the purchase a house. Also acquired: a 2021 Hyundai Genesis SUV.

Still, law enforcement and Schwab have now recovered roughly 75% of the dough.

Also recovered: Kelyn.

She’d been with the Sheriff’s Office for four and a half years.

NOLA delivered news of her detention:

Kelyn Spadoni…of Harvey, was fired after being booked with theft valued over $25,000, bank fraud and illegal transmission of monetary funds…

Per the lawsuit, her account contract includes an agreement that any overpayment will result in the client returning the difference in full.

Sheriff Jason laid it out:

“If someone accidentally puts an extra zero on a utility payment, they would want that money returned or credited to them. This is no different.”

As of Thursday, she was being held at the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna on $50,000 bond.

Bank Accidentally Puts $1.2 Million Into Kelyn Spadoni's Account and Then Gets Mad When She Spent The Money so They Arrested Her For Fraud; Name That State (Video) https://t.co/PvVK9JhfgU pic.twitter.com/d9BYkzNAhi

— Robert Littal BSO (@BSO) April 12, 2021